§ MR. STEADMANI beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster-General, if he can explain the reason for the delay which prevails in the matter of awarding stripes earned by Norwich postmen; whether he is aware that thirty Norwich men are awaiting stripes, some of them for a period of two years; and whether he will consent to reconsider the case of two men (Woodhouse and Saunders) whose colleagues feel that stripes due to them have been harshly withheld for offences of a very trivial character.
§ MR. HANBURYMy attention has been called to the case of these postmen by my two hon. friends the Members for Norwich. As I have already explained to them, considerable delay has occurred in dealing with the cases of the postmen referred to in the first part of the question owing to difficulties in verifying the men's auxiliary or unestablished service 1549 and to pressure of work in the Surveyor's Office. It is expected that they will be completed in a very short time, and such good conduct stripes as may be awarded will, of course, date back to the time when the men become eligible to receive them. As regards Postmen Woodhouse and Saunders their good conduct stripes have been awarded strictly in accordance with the rules, and there is nothing to take the cases out of the ordinary course. Five consecutive years' unblemished service is necessary to obtain a good conduct stripe, and Woodhouse received one its from 1st April, 1897. Saunders' stripe dates from 12th December, 1896; and in neither case can another stripe be gained till five years from those dates. Neither of these men was eligible to receive a stripe before the date on which the award was made.